Coombeteignhead pumping station

SBB00295

Overflow on the network feeding Coombeteign System · Pumping-station / emergency overflow

Showing history for 2023 · records go back to 2020

Not spilling

The monitor is reporting and shows no discharge.

Last spill ended

28 Feb, 01:08

Counted spills, 2023

118 discharge events

Hours spilled, 2023

427

Is the feed working?

Working

Last checked 38 min ago · we poll SWW hourly

48h agonow

48/48 hourly readings received

Dry spills, 2023

32 in 2023 · 32 since 2020

How a dry spill is decided →

Spilled before its STW, 2023

118

118 in 2023 · 231 since 2020

What this means →

Why this one spills

This looks like a fault, not a storm.

This overflow has discharged in dry weather 32 times since 2020 — spills with no rainfall to excuse them. Its treatment works is not itself over capacity, so a catchment-wide explanation does not hold. Applied to this record, the two-stage lawfulness test is hard to pass: a recurring dry-weather discharge is not an exceptional circumstance, and where the remedy is routine maintenance the disproportionate-cost exception is hard to run.

How this verdict is reached →

Its permit

What the environmental permit sets for this overflow — and where the public record is silent, which is itself the finding.

Pass-forward flow: Not published
Spill frequency limit: None set
Monitoring tier: Not published
Assessment trigger: Crossed — over 10 spills/year

Is anyone acting on this?

Flagged problems

Dry spilling32 dry spills since 2020Spills before its works231 times since 2020

Measures on record

Investigation to meet EnvAct INV4 Driver
Investigationdue 2027
Reduction of spills to meet EnvAct_IMP drivers
Improvementdue 2030

Verdict

Improvement under way

A physical improvement is committed against this overflow.

What you can do about this one

OPEN NOW

Ask for the data

Under the Environmental Information Regulations, Coombeteignhead pumping station's telemetry, the works' flow-to-full-treatment setting, and any spill investigations are emissions information — they cannot be withheld on commercial-confidentiality grounds. A written request is the fastest lever.

BY 30 APR 2027

Get it into the next programme

Investigations that will shape the 2030–35 environment programme must complete by this date. Putting this overflow on the record now — to South West Water and the Environment Agency — is what gets it considered.

BY 1 NOV 2027

Put it in the drainage plan

South West Water's draft Drainage & Wastewater Management Plan goes to a twelve-week consultation. A named overflow with evidence behind it is far harder to leave out.

Put this on the national record

This is the fastest way to act on what you have seen. Our petition asks the Government to publish a fix-by date and yearly progress for every storm overflow. At 100,000 signatures it must be considered for debate in Parliament.

19of 10,000 for a Government response

Sign the petition ↗

The record since 2020

32 dry spills and 231 pre-STW spills since 2020. Pick a year to see its events below.

Count by

2023: 38 spills · 118 discharge events

362020 02021 12022 382023 222024 172025 392026

Counted spills — the EA's 12/24-hour block method, the basis of the 10-a-year cap. Published annual return where available, computed the same way for the current year. Two ways to count →